Grub Menu not showing - Dual boot Windows 10 and Ubuntu

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alisam

829 posts

Ultimate Geek

#319177 31-Mar-2025 07:02

Got myself into a bit of a pickle.

Installed Ubuntu 24.04 on an HP ProBook 470 G1 Laptop. It was working very well for an initial installation.

However, the laptop always booted into Ubuntu and I must be able to dual boot to either Windows 10 or Ubuntu.

I installed Grub Optimizer (How to Install Grub Customizer on Ubuntu) and moved one of the windows entries to the top of the list. Now it always boots into Window and there is still no grub menu.

At present, I don't know how to access Ubuntu on a startup.

I have looked at [Fixed] No Grub Screen in Dual Boot, System Boots in Windows.

My BIOS shows:

Boot Mode

Legacy <-- Set to this
UEFI Hybrid (With CSM)
UEFI Hybrid (Without CSM)

I think I need to be on a UEFI setting. However, just choosing a UEFI setting warns me of dire consequences that may happen, so am loathed to do this (just yet).

PC: HP ProBook 470G1 (Windows 10 Pro), Intel NUC7I5BNH (Windows 10 Pro), Dell Inspiron 7591 2n1 (Windows 11 Pro)
Net: Grandstream 1 x GWN7062, 1 x GWN7610, 1 x GWN7665
Storage: Synology DS216play NAS, 2 x 6TB
Media: 3 x Amazon FireTV. Echo, Dot, Spot
TV: 2 x Samsung H6400 55" LED TV, Panasonic TH-P50G10Z 50" Plasma TV
Mobile: Samsung Galaxy A52 5G
Wearable: Gear S3 Frontier

alisam

829 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3358834 31-Mar-2025 07:48

Finally entered better search terms and found out that pressing 'shift' on startup will bring up the grub menu.

And it does.

I quite like this. For now, the default OS must be Windows.

old3eyes

9120 posts

Uber Geek

Subscriber

#3358837 31-Mar-2025 08:26

I use Grub Customizer in my dual boot system. Works well after I got it setup.

Regards,

Old3eyes

alisam

829 posts

Ultimate Geek

#3358844 31-Mar-2025 08:52

old3eyes:

I use Grub Customizer in my dual boot system. Works well after I got it setup.

For me, it just won't appear on startup. As mentioned, OK if I use shift on startup.

Strange!

fe31nz

1230 posts

Uber Geek

#3359283 31-Mar-2025 23:23

Grub has options that control visibility and the default menu entry. In Ubuntu, you find them in the /etc/default/grub file. I think these are the ones you want (copied from my current settings on my MythTV box):

GRUB_DEFAULT=0
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10

This setup sets the default menu entry to the first one listed, (GRUB_DEFAULT=0), to display the menu always (GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu) and display the menu for 10 seconds (GRUB_TIMEOUT=10).

Another common setup I use for dual boot systems (such as my laptop) is:

GRUB_DEFAULT=saved
GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=saved
GRUB_TIMEOUT_STYLE=menu
GRUB_TIMEOUT=10

which saves the menu item selected each time and remembers it as the system to be booted by default on the next boot.

Whenever you change the /etc/default/grub file, you need to run "update-grub" (as root or with sudo) so that the actual grub menu file (/boot/grub/grub.cfg) gets rebuilt with the new options.

See:

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2/Setup